New Marlborough, Massachusetts, bought over , the first of two families by that name to establish themselves in the district, in the early 1760s. Another family, the Collinses, had already settled nearby but bought land in the district to give to their children. The oldest surviving buildings in the district, the farmhouse and barn at the Wheeler-Collins Farm on Coleman Station Road, have been dated to about 1771, shortly after land-transaction records start being kept regularly. Thomas Wheeler of Woodbury, Connecticut, arrived right before the war, the other Wheeler to establish his family there. The other farms were established following independence. By the early 19th century four large farms existed, all linked to Wheelers. 1771–1870: Animal farming As the New England farmers settled in their new home, under their new flag, their agricultural practices changed. In their home states, under British rule, they had primarily grown wheat for export. In Dutchess County, they began raising a mix of livestock and cash crops for local and regional consumption, building farms that reflected this with buildings and spaces dedicated to different species. They supplemented their farm income with the extraction of raw materials for early industrial production like iron, limestone and peat, from nearby hillsides and bogs. The 1850 census contains the first record of farm production in the district. The farms, about each, averaged 5–6 cows for milking, with twice that number slaughtered for meat. The former produced of butter and of cheese. Sheep were more numerous, about a hundred per farm on average, yielding of wool each year. They were joined by 20–30 pigs, oxen used as beasts of burden and horses for personal transportation. Most improved land on the farms was used as pasture; cropland was used mostly for animal feed, hay and potatoes. Ten years later, the 1860 census shows a dramatic change in animals raised. Cow herds have gained at the expense of pigs and sheep, and the number of milking cows increased to 10–20, with no change in the crops grown. This reflects the 1852 advent of the New York and Harlem Railroad, the state's first, into the area, and with it a milk-processing plant in Wassaic to the south. Farmers could now get their milk and products to the growing New York City market, making dairy farming much more profitable. The 1870 census for the first time recorded fluid milk production, with the Coleman Station